Bound with a red
and white plaid cloth,
a diary admired
through the shop window,
a present on turning thirteen.
Thoughts of boys, family
and friends fill the early pages,
but things changed as Jewish persecution
seeped into Amsterdam.
Moortje left behind as seclusion began.
Three families clutter the confined space.
Nerves rattled, relationships
taut. My dearest father, absent mother,
sister Margot and sweetest Peter, your places
in my diary reserved. Current
affairs take priority, the
deterioration of our existence makes
me question the presence of
God, to define human nature.
My thoughts are put to a sudden halt,
we are arrested.
Father goodbye, we are segregated,
stripped naked, disinfected,
tear streaked face, I’ve been branded.
Slave labor by morning, thrust
into icy barracks at night.
Scabies then typhus,
I followed my sister
towards the end of mortality, just
weeks before the war ended
and freedom was ours.

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